The present invention is directed towards a packaged food article for the microwave cooking of an individual or small portion of an uncooked batter such as for a dessert, e.g., a cake, muffin or brownie. The present products are individual convenience snack or dessert items.
Of course, any number of dessert food items can be reheated in a microwave oven. For example, if desired, a previously baked slice of a fruit pie or a baked muffin or baked brownie piece can be warmed by reheating by microwave heating. Moreover, any number of packaged ready-to-cook consumer food products can be or are specifically adapted to reheating prior to consumption. For example, a number of sandwich or hotdog-and-bun products are packaged in flexible film packaging that are intended to be distributed under refrigeration temperatures and microwave heated immediately prior to consumption.
Recently, a convenience packaged food product has been introduced in the United States for the microwave cooking of an individually sized portion of a dessert under the Warm Delights trademark. The product is in the form of a kit comprising a dessert dry mix packet (75 g), a second pouch (18 g) of topping applied after cooking, a plastic bowl and microwave preparation instructions. The consumer is instructed to open the dry mix packet and pour the dry mix into the bowl. The consumer is then asked to admix a small quantity, e.g., 4 teaspoons (20 mL) of water to the dry mix to form a batter in the bowl. The product is then microwave heated for about 75 seconds and a topping is applied to the finished baked product to form a freshly made microwave heated dessert. (See, for example, U.S. Ser. No. 60/649,251 “Container To Facilitate Microwave Cooking And Handling” (filed Feb. 2, 2005 by Kreisman et al.). Even when such finished goods are prepared by microwave heating, such finished cooked goods are still colloquially referred to as “baked goods”.
While useful, the present invention provides improvements over the Warm Delights™ dessert kit arrangement. In one respect, the present invention provides a shelf stable, ready-to-cook batter or dough already present in the cup with optional topping for even greater preparation convenience.
In another aspect, the present articles are smaller in portion size. Current consumer food trends favor items that are portion controlled to provide about 100 calories per finished item.
However, providing shelf stable packaged food batter items of such controlled portion sizes presents unexpected technical challenges. The combination of a MW absorptive food charge such as a dessert batter combined with small portions presents a difficult product tolerance challenge by microwave heating preparation. The difference between insufficient microwave heating (with undesirable unset batter) and excessive (resulting in a dry or even burnt finished product) can be quite small, e.g. 5-10 seconds. Variations in the power output of various consumer microwave ovens, whether the particular unit is equipped with a carousel, and even placement within the microwave heating cavity can exacerbate the problem of providing sufficient product preparation tolerance. As a result, it is believed that no consumer packaged food product is both small in quantity (to provide 100 calories or less) and intended for microwave cooking preparation.
Moreover, the art for packaged food products of greater consumer convenience teaches that products should be designed for ever faster preparation such as by microwave heating. Counter intuitively, the present articles provide greater convenience by purposefully slowing down the time of preparation by impeding microwave absorption to provide for greater preparation tolerance because the food portions are so small.
Surprisingly, the above problems can be overcome and packaged shelf stable batter products for microwave preparation of enhanced heating preparation tolerance can be provided. The present invention provides for cup containers, including a microwave shield, of particular reflectivity that surprisingly provide the needed microwave heating duration tolerance to provide superior finished prepared. Shields can be positioned peripherally around or horizontally above and or below the product. The shield, however, must not so fully enclose the product that no MW energy can reach the product. Some provision must be made to allow MW energy to reach the product.